Electric socks are great if you're mostly in a stand. Not so great if you're doing demanding hiking and climbing all day long.

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I wore my kenetreks, a couple pair of good socks & gaiters. The gaiters really help imo. When its that cold you can't sit still for very long and if the air is moving at all even be outside the truck for very long. Give me teens at nite and 40's during the day and I will be happy.

We were in MT in November 2014 when it was -20, after it gets below about -5 its just cold.....

As for boots/socks, I would stay away from neoprene, your feet will sweat which will only make the cold worse. Get yourself some good wool socks and wear your regular hunting boots. Walking a lot at -20 isn't much fun....once you kill something at those temps, its amazing how much you can sweat dragging though.

I'd pretty much mirror these last 2 guys opinions. Neoprene doesn't breathe at all, so your feet will eventually get clammy and then get SUPER cold. I wore gators last year for the first time and was impressed at how well they insulated my legs and feet but still allowed some breathability.

I've only hunted in 0 degree weather a couple times, but that's downright cold. If you kept moving, it was fine, but if you stopped, it got cold fast. -20 is uncharted territory but my gut tells me that that could be downright dangerous to get any to far from the truck for any to long. One nice thing about those temps is the deer will be easy to find. They'll be moving all over on south facing hillsides.

Having neither hunted nor visited MT in November, what are the odds that weather will be down right down to 0 in mid-November, around Miles City?

Goi

I have been out there every year since 2011, typically between Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, the last two years during that time frame temps were in the 60's. Basically, plan for everything and take clothing and gear for both extremes, it can change over night....

Good luck, my days of hunting in WA are fewer and fewer every year. Like I said, once temps hit -5 its just cold. My neighbor killed a cow elk the morning it was -20, sun was out, cold crisp morning. Walking sucked but after we got her cleaned out we stood there for quite a while with our gloves off and coats off, it really didn't feel that cold.

We've never hunted deer in MT and want to make a trip to 'see what all the fuss is about'. I've never hunted mulies for that matter -- just these things called deer that I rarely see in western WA timber jungles.

I hope to have the opportunity to not shoot the first four point I see.

Is there any way to pick up a second meat deer via doe tag? I'd really like to stock up on meat. I see there are some deer B licenses left but that appears to be a totally different license.

Pick up some whitetail B tags, they taste better than mule deer any how. The mule deer get hammered on public ground and we had another rough winter last year. I have no idea why FWP issues mule deer doe tags for region 7 that are valid on public.

Take good glass, we spend hours glassing, sometimes before we even get out of the truck.

In your experience, do you glass for hours just to find deer, or to find 'the deer' to go after?

We do lots of glassing even at home hunting blacktails but it's definately a must on the breaks. The ground is far deeper and broken up than meets the eye and can really hide deer when you think theres nothing there. Walking down ridges and changing prospective is very effective.

I've hunted it twice and a buddy 4 times the last 5 years and of the dozens of people over those years we have been over there with or at the same time from our area nobody has not filled a tag. Some were smaller 3 pt meat bucks but many 18-24 inch 3x4 & 4 pts with a 27'' 3 point being the biggest. Be patient, don't be afraid to get out of the pickup and use your optics. Set a goal each day on whats a shooter and stick to it. Everyone I know that jumps the gun on pulling the trigger always sees a bigger one while helping other guys glass. It's a fun hunt but not really a trophy hunt. But if ya put out the effort and stay patient ya never know what ya might luck into.

Take good glass, we spend hours glassing, sometimes before we even get out of the truck.

In your experience, do you glass for hours just to find deer, or to find 'the deer' to go after?

We do lots of glassing even at home hunting blacktails but it's definately a must on the breaks. The ground is far deeper and broken up than meets the eye and can really hide deer when you think theres nothing there. Walking down ridges and changing prospective is very effective.

I've hunted it twice and a buddy 4 times the last 5 years and of the dozens of people over those years we have been over there with or at the same time from our area nobody has not filled a tag. Some were smaller 3 pt meat bucks but many 18-24 inch 3x4 & 4 pts with a 27'' 3 point being the biggest. Be patient, don't be afraid to get out of the pickup and use your optics. Set a goal each day on whats a shooter and stick to it. Everyone I know that jumps the gun on pulling the trigger always sees a bigger one while helping other guys glass. It's a fun hunt but not really a trophy hunt. But if ya put out the effort and stay patient ya never know what ya might luck into.

I highly disagree with there not being trophies there. They are just deep

You are kidding right? Locals don't care about putting their deer in the books. I see deer each year that would easily surpass the best deer (of the year) in most states. Because you haven't seen them, doesn't mean they don't exist. There just isn't a state hat offers better deer hunting otc and on public land.

You are kidding right? Locals don't care about putting their deer in the books. I see deer each year that would easily surpass the best deer (of the year) in most states. Because you haven't seen them, doesn't mean they don't exist. There just isn't a state hat offers better deer hunting otc and on public land.

We taped a deer at the local meat cutters last year that was over 30, the local that shot it was just going to cut the horns off because his wife didn't want another head on the wall. We got talking and he showed me that two he had shoulder mounts done with......one was a non-typical gnarly old buck that I couldn't begin to guess what the score was, the other made the one in the back of his pickup look small....book score doesn't mean much to a lot of these guys, I guessing there are a lot of "book deer" killed in a lot of western states that never get scored.

Your right about one thing, Montana does provide the most opportunity and public land to hunt mule deer during the rut. I would guess those factors and some crappy genetical traits make my statement closer to reality than yours. Regardless, these gentlemen in this thread and my clan will go to Montana and have a great time looking for the best bucks we can dig up.